The present invention relates to integrated optical devices, and also to methods of making such devices.
Integrated optical devices generally include a substrate formed with waveguide pathways each having a higher refractive index than the substrate for guiding the transmission of light therethrough, and a plurality of electrodes to receive electrical signals for controlling the light transmission through the pathways. The waveguide pathways in an interaction zone are of an electro-optically active waveguide material whose refractive index changes in response to electrical signals applied to the electrodes. Waveguide pathways in an access zone provide optical access to the interaction zone.
The invention is particularly useful in cavity-assisted directional-coupler devices in which the interaction zone includes an optical cavity having front and back ends defined by reflector facets perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the optical cavity. The invention is therefore described below particularly with respect to this type of device, but it will be appreciated that the invention, or various aspects thereof, may also be used in other types of integrated optical devices.
Integrated optical devices are characterized by extremely short response times, in the sub-nano-second order, which makes them ideally suited in optical communications systems. Such devices generally, and cavity assisted directional-coupler devices in particular, are described in a large number of publications, including the Ph.D. thesis by the inventor in the present application: D. Nir, “Novel Integrated Optic devices Based On Irregular Waveguide Features”, Ph.D. thesis, Tel Aviv University, 1996.
The extension of such devices to ever-increasing applications depends to a large degree on the operational efficiency attainable by such devices, and also on the complexity in fabricating such devices. Efforts are continuously being made to increase the operational efficiency of such devices, and to simplify their fabrication, in order to extend their use to many additional applications.
For example, a fundamental feature of cavity-assisted directional-couplers is a very short optical cavity, typically 25-250 μm in length. The cavity is created when two reflectors confine a waveguide section. The reflector structures, in particular at the input side, are generally trench structures created by etching out material, as by reactive-ion-beam etching (RIBE). The reflector facets must be perfectly flat, smooth and perpendicular to the optical cavity in order to minimize cavity losses because of scattering by imperfections. The back facet of the front trench is coated with a semi-reflecting film to input the light, whereas the front facet in the back trench is coated with a fully reflecting film to produce total reflection through the optical cavity between the latter two films.
Because of the trench structure produced by etching, the front facet of the front trench (facing the input waveguide) is coated with an anti-reflecting film to improve the light transmission. However, providing such a film adds to the complexity of fabrication; it also contributes to the optical losses in such devices.